Edwards and Landry are asking a judge to decide whether Edwards can prohibit discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in state government through an executive order. Landry opposes the LGBT workplace protections the governor has implemented.

The attorney general has declined to approve up to 100 contracts with private law firms for state legal work because the contracts prohibit discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Edwards required the the LGBT protection be inserted into the contracts.

But the feud between Landry -- a Republican who will probably run against Edwards in 2018 -- and the governor has extended far beyond legal contracts. Here are a few things we learned through their initial court proceedings.

Gay people may not be an issue. It might just be about transgender folks.

In his legal filings, Landry has requested the judge toss Edwards' entire executive order that protects gay people and others in same-sex relationships as well as transgender people.

But during the court proceedings this week, Landry's legal team said something slightly different. They said the attorney general was only taking issue with the governor's workplace protections for transgender people. He didn't have objections to the protections for the gay, lesbian and bisexual community.

"This whole case is about gender identity, not sexual orientation." said Chester Cedars, a lawyer working for Landry on suing the governor.

Landry's witnesses went on to say the attorney general had approved contracts that offered protections against workplace harassment for gay people only.

The governor's office remains skeptical about whether Landry is ok with protections for people who are gay and in same-sex relationships. "That was the first that I had heard anything like that," said Matthew Block, the governor's general counsel, in an interview.

Landry isn't able to hire lawyers to defend Louisiana's new abortion laws.

It isn't just Landry that's refusing to approve contracts. The governor's administration also won't let Landry move some legal contracts forward, since Landry hasn't included the LGBT nondiscrimination clause in them.

Specifically, the attorney general wants to hire Kyle Duncan, a Washington D.C. lawyer, to defend Louisiana's new abortion restrictions. But he hasn't been able to hire Duncan yet, because Duncan's contract doesn't include the LGBT workplace protections the governor is requiring. So, the state office that oversees contracts won't sign off on Duncan's agreement.

Duncan, who used to work for Louisiana Department of Justice, is an expert on antiabortion and other socially conservative legal cases. He is one of the lawyers that will be arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of a school district that wants to ban a transgender teen's access to certain bathrooms at his high school. The case is expected to be a watershed moment for transgender issues.

Landry is already agreeing to protect LGBT people under a federal order.

While Landry is fighting Edwards' prohibition on LGBT workplace protections, he's still approving other contracts that include a federal nondiscrimination clause similar to the governor's.

All federal contractors and groups that take federal money have to abide by President Barack Obama's federal executive order that prohibits LGBT discrimination in the workplace. The governor's legal team pointed out that Landry has already signed off on several contracts that explicitly adhere to the president's executive order.

"They are promising to abide by a federal executive order that says the exact same thing," Block said.

Edwards isn't transferring $18 million to Landry because of this dispute.

The governor is also withholding around $18 million from the Louisiana Department of Justice for litigation services because technically the money is transferred through a contract and Landry won't sign off on the LGBT nondiscrimination language in the agreement.

The money is used to cover litigation services, including payroll, at Landry's agency. Everyone is getting paid for now, but Landry's office is still irritated the money is being withheld.

Court ruling might not help with state employee health insurance problem.

Regardless of what the court says about the governor's LGBT executive order, it might not help resolve the dispute over the contracts that provide state employee health insurance.

The Louisiana House Appropriations Committee has refused to approve a health insurance contract that pays for state employees benefits because it includes LGBT protections. Appropriations Committee Chairman Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said he won't be comfortable with including the LGBT provisions, regardless of what the court decides. So the judge's ruling is unlikely to resolve this issue.

Landry is the only official objecting to the LGBT protections, Edwards said.

Several officials who work for the Edwards administration said they had not received complaints about the governor's executive order -- except those from Landry. Two different witnesses in the court case said no other agencies or contractors had bothered to comment on the new policy.

"I have not heard of any objections from either agencies -- besides the Department of Justice -- or vendors," said Scott Johnson, who serves as general counsel to the Louisiana Division of Administration, which oversees state contracts.

The Edwards administration says this dispute causes daily problems.

A couple of different witnesses did say the dispute over LGBT workplace protections is causing regular problems for state government. Agencies either haven't been able to hire lawyers because Landry won't approve the contracts -- or attorneys have been agreeing to work without being paid. Officials are worried that those law firms currently doing work for free will stop if they have to go on much longer without compensation.

"I'm aware of significant problems for the operations of agencies," Johnson said.

Landry wants to pay a lawyer more than normal for abortion cases.

During the court hearing, the Edwards administration also went on a bit of a tangent about legal fees. Edwards lawyers pointed out that Landry wants to hire Duncan for the state abortion defense for a higher fee than the government typically pays private attorneys.

The Louisiana Department of Justice typically pays private lawyers $255 per hour or less for their work. Under the draft of the contract, Duncan would be paid $385 per hour for his services.

Duncan has been paid at a higher rate previously. He did a lot of work for the Jindal administration and charged more for his work on those cases as well.